SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State softball closed out the first weekend of the season with back to back wins and a 5-1 record after five games. On Sunday afternoon the Bobcats had a 3-1 win over Southern Illinois and a 5-4 walk-off win against Creighton.
 
The game with Southern Illinois featured five hit-less innings in Jessica Mullins first start and complete game of the 2024 season as the Bobcats scored three, two off a Kat Zarate double and one off an Anna Jones double.


The 'Cats won game two in extraordinary fashion, with two runs scored off a Karmyn Bass single to walk it off after coming back from trailing 4-0. The 'Cats 5-4 win was the second come-from-behind win of the weekend.

The Bobcats continue with weekend two of the Texas State tournament next weekend, Feb. 15-18. The 'Cats will host Texas Tech, Tulsa, Northern Colorado and Sam Houston in its next weekend of play.
 
From Texas State head coach Ricci Woodard
"I like our resililiency, but I'd like to be more aggressive early in the game. We're too good a team to do that, because we're going to get beat. That's not the way we want to live.
 
From Catcher Karmyn Bass
"We all know how to come together at the end of the day. Obviously, there's going to be hits here and there but we know at the end of the day we're going to be able to string the hits we need together."

From Pitcher Jessica Mullins
"We just had to review ourselves and review our mistakes and check our mentality to be able to bounce back after a good night's rest. We just had to be ourselves and we could do it."

Game Summaries
Mullins Tosses Complete Game as 'Cats Win 3-1 Against Southern Illinois
After suffering an errors-plagued six-run loss just 12 hours prior, the Bobcats rallied back for a 3-1 win. Mullins earned her first start of the season as she controlled the game, pitching a complete game with five hit-less innings.

Kat Zarate's 2 RBI double down the left line in the second inning got the 'Cats on the board after Sydney Harvey and Anna Jones got on base from walks.
 
Things went scoreless until the top of the 6^th when the Salukis pulled one back. Off a throwing errors from Hannah Earls, the Salukis were able to capitalize off a single and score.
 
Also in the sixth, Ciara Trahan continued her heavy hitting weekend with a run and a hit. She singled to get on base and was able to score on Anna Jones RBI double to make things 3-1 for the Bobcats.
 
Bass' Single Walks it Off for the 'Cats
Tori McCann started in the circle for the Bobcats, but after Creighton came out aggressive, they were able to go up 4-0 early. Freshman pitcher Maddy Azua came in with two outs in the first and struck out the first batter.
 
From there, the Bobcats pulled back a run in the bottom of the first after capitalizing off an error by the second basemen. 
 
 The Bobcats struggled to get hits until the bottom of the fifth when Sara Vanderford singled to right field. She was unable to score after Zarate grounded out, though.
 
In the bottom of the 6^th the Bobcats were able to pull back another win off a Sara Vanderford double. Headed into the final inning the Bobcats were still down by two.
 
Analisa Soliz came in for Azua to pitch and close the game out. She got out of the inning with no hits and no runs, leaving the Bobcats needing two runs to win the game.
 
The Bluejays walked Sydney Harvey to open the inning. Up next, Hannah Earls bunted to get on base, advancing Harvey to second. Trahan got her third hit of the day for an RBI single to put two runners on base.
 
Creighton made a pitching change. Bass was up to bat with two runners on, and she got a 2 RBI single to left to win the game for the Bobcats.